The Show Starter™ Reality TV Made Simple System, Vol. 1

– – —

Ten Steps to

Creating and Pitching

a Sellable Reality Show

by DMA/Donna Michelle Anderson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie in a Box Books

With special thanks to: my family for championing me throughout the writing of this book and the producing career that inspired it; J.M. Morris for your enthusiastic seminar support and book notes; the network execs, show runners and staff members who mentored me, assisted me and believed in my systems; and the seminar attendees whose fire for joining the reality TV-selling ranks made this book a joy to write.

 

This book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information on the subject of television production.  It is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, financial or other professional services by rendering this book.  Since each individual situation is unique, legal, financial and other questions relevant to television production should be addressed to an appropriate professional.  The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, injury or risk that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this

book/e-book or related online resources.

 

 

Published by Movie in a Box Books

 

First Printing, December 2006

 

The Show Starter Reality TV Made Simple System, Vol. I

 

Copyright © 2006 by Donna Michelle Anderson

 

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews specifically addressing this publication.

 

ISBN-13: 978-0-9787150-1-4

ISBN-10: 0-9787150-1-2

 

Printed in The United States of America

 

Movie in a Box Books can be purchased for personal, business and educational use or sales promotion.  They are available at quantity discounts. 

 

For information, please contact Movie in a Box, 14622 Ventura Blvd #333, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 or visit www.movieinabox.com/books.

 

 

 

Introduction

Who Needs to Read a Book to Sell a Show?...1

CHAPTER 1

Step #1: I Have a Great Idea for a New Reality Show!...9

CHAPTER 2

Reality 101...13

CHAPTER 3

Who are the Real Reality Players?...17

CHAPTER 4

Steps #2: Crafting Your Pitch and One-Sheet...23

CHAPTER 5

Steps #4: Retaining an Attorney & Attaching Talent...43

CHAPTER 6

Step #6: Crafting Your Treatment...59

CHAPTER 7

Step #7: Ballparking Your Show Budget...77

CHAPTER 8

Step #8: Practicing Your Pitch(es)...95

CHAPTER 9

Step #9: Setting Up a Pitch Meeting...111

CHAPTER 10

Step #10: Pitching Your Show ...129

CHAPTER 11

The Deal...137

CHAPTER 12

The Final Word...145

APPENDIX A

Seed Money Expenses...147

APPENDIX B

The "Show Starter" Glossary...149

APPENDIX C

The Reality Check List...153

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who needs to read The Show Starter Reality Show Made Simple System, Vol. 1?  The shorter question is: Who doesn’t? 

You do not need to read this book if:  a) you already have sold a reality TV show and successfully stayed attached to it and it aired and it got good ratings; or b) you are on the BlackBerry speed dial buttons or MySpace friend lists of numerous broadcast and cable network executives.

Everyone else, if you have watched enough people compete to eat bat droppings, propose to strangers after one hot tub scene too many or have their less-than-perfect homes/faces/lives made over by telegenic gurus, and you believe that you, too, can sell a reality show, please…read on.

Since you have purchased or been given this book, I am fairly sure you agree with and, in fact, are motivated by, at least three of the four following statements:

1)    You have an idea you think would make a great reality show;

2)    You watch reality TV and not-so-secretly believe you could do as well or better coming up with show ideas;

3)    You are not making the money you’d like to be making and are planning for a reality windfall by selling a show; or

4)    You are more interested in selling a reality show than actually working on one.  Unless it is your own.

Some of you are private clients of mine from my show runner training sessions.  I have met others of you at my Show Starter™ reality TV seminars, including: "The Realities of Reality TV," "From Concept to Network Deal: 10 Steps to Selling Your Own Reality Show" and "Reality 201: 10 Steps to Running a Streamlined Reality Show." Still others are staff members from my shows who want to replicate some of my systems for their own projects.  And if all of these interactions are any indication, for most of you reading this book, your biggest motivating factor in trying to sell a show is #3: the big bucks.  So now would be a good time for our first "reality check."

Listen and believe:  selling reality shows is not a "get rich quick" scheme.  It is not even a "get rich slow" scheme.  There is no real money to be made in selling reality shows!  The money in reality TV comes from producing those shows.  Not one show, not two shows, but multiple 13-or-more episode series.  Yes, there are millionaires in reality TV, and most have them have more than one show on the air, and they own the company that physically produces those shows.  Reality is a volume industry. 

You have just read my words, but, frankly, you do not believe them.  What about Mark Burnett? you ask.  He was a gazillionaire after Survivor broke out!  Quite probably true.  In fact, Mark Burnett’s extraordinary success has made him the Pied Piper of reality TV.  Everyone is skipping down Hollywood Boulevard behind his legacy, assuming if they sell one show, they, too, will rake in product placement millions and enormous production fees.  But the industry has learned a lot since the early days of giving producers so much for their shows.  They no longer underestimate the power and revenue stream of reality programming.  So now they keep it to themselves and share it with only a select few.  Okay, really just with Mark and Tyra Banks, members of an elite club not currently accepting applications.

Is it possible that you might be the exception to the current rules?  That you, too, might develop and sell the zeitgeist-defining juggernaut that earns you untold millions?  Well, sure, anything is possible.  But as a good friend of mine likes to say, why are people always trying to make a career out of being the exception when there is plenty of success to be had just by being the rule?

I was on a reality producing panel recently alongside the financial guru/VP of a mega-reality production house here in Los Angeles.  The attendees, only one of whom actually had worked in reality TV, would not stray from questions about how to sell their own shows.  I stopped and asked why they were so intent on selling a show rather than working in the industry first and learning how it operates.  The uniform response was "to get paid!" 

That was my cue to write a dollar amount on a piece of paper and flip it upside-down on the table, hidden from my fellow panelists.  I announced that I had written down the largest sum of money I believed they could possibly make from selling their first reality show.  What did they think that was?  They called out a range of figures: "$50,000!"  "$25,000!" "$100,000!"  I turned to my fellow panelist, the guru/VP, whom I had never met before that evening, and asked him for his figure.  He said he probably would not pay them anything just for an idea.  But at most, he would pay them "$5,000" all in, for their idea and their involvement in the show.

I turned over my slip of paper.  The amount?  "$5,000."

Why then, one attendee wanted to know, do you make reality TV? 

You make reality TV because you want access to an international platform to reach real people and change their lives.  You make it because you have very strong opinions on how people should dress, date, live, cook, decorate, work and behave.  You make it because you are incredibly curious about human behavior and how it can be altered, improved or debased.  You make it because it is an incredible challenge to develop a show, get it through production and make it to air, and you are a glutton for punishment and sleep-deprivation.  You make it because it is both creative and logistical, hilarious and distressing, rewarding and confounding.  If reality shows are "train wreck TV," then reality production is "train wreck living."  You want to keep driving, but the disaster in front of you is too compelling to pass by. 

When the moderator took over the questioning, we finally were able to discuss how to actually work in the reality industry.  Because unless you own a production company that has more than one show on the air (so multiple fees can pay for business overhead and leave room for at least a small profit), the way to make money in reality TV is by working on shows and, ultimately, running them for other people, as I did.  But that does not stop people from wanting to create, pitch and run their own series, as I did. 

What does stop people from creating and pitching their own series is not knowing how the reality industry works.  That is what this book is for.  I am writing it as a guide through a very established process that you will be expected to know and follow as you try to sell your first show. 

Before you begin, please let me state several seemingly contradictory facts about the process that lies ahead:

1)    The reality TV industry has a bottomless hunger and programming need for new shows; yet

2)    The reality TV industry makes it virtually impossible for you to pitch them new programming without personal, insider contacts or a top-level agent; and

3)    Even if you manage to do it, there is virtually no benefit to you in selling your first reality TV show; but

4)    I am excited to teach you how to do just that.

Show Starter, Vol. 1 is for anybody who is attempting their first sale of a reality TV show.  Whether you currently work in reality TV or not, there is a simple and savvy system you want to learn before you toss your brilliant idea onto the craps table of broadcast and cable programming for the first time. 

Even if you are shooting for a second or third sale, the Show Starter™ system will give you a streamlined approach to covering your bases and expanding your possibilities.  Of course, four or more sales in, you could just use the book as a doorstop as you saunter into your network buddy’s office and say, "Here’s the show:  it’s [ latest Hollywood hottie ]… marrying a different guy every week… and the contestants compete to see who shoots the best honeymoon video.  The winner gets 10% of the online bootleg profits."  Sold. 

It is my hope that you are reading this book as a roadmap, a soon-to-be dog-eared reference tool so you will feel more confident, informed and prepared for the challenge ahead.  But I realize you may only be skimming it, looking for the shortcuts to reality riches.  Yeah…about that…  That chapter is not in here.  Sorry.  If even after what you have read so far, you are still counting on selling a reality show as a quick way to earn loads of money without doing any work, know this:  the easiest part of this process is going to be reading this book.  Everything after that is Hard Work.

This absolutely is not a book about how to make mountains of money in reality TV.  This is a book about how to craft reality TV shows you can actually pitch and sell.  Whether you actually sell a show depends on these wildly variable primary factors:

1)    How compelling your idea is to the buyers you meet;

2)    How well you execute that idea into a viable show format;

3)    How desirable the talent is you attach to the show;

4)    How the cost of your show measures up against the buyers’ budget and potential return;

5)    What the current trends are in the reality marketplace;

6)    How relentless and inventive you are in your efforts; and, most importantly,

7)    If you ever meet and pitch to a person who is both enthusiastic about your show and in the position to get it made.  

Of course, I cannot guarantee you will sell a show even by following the Show Starter™ system to perfection, due to those same wildly variable primary factors (and more that only Hollywood can shock and awe you with).  I can promise, however, that that this book will teach you how to effectively conquer those primary factors and that trying to sell a show will be infinitely less frustrating, discouraging, intimidating and angering if you learn and apply this system first.

Five simple requests before we move forward:

1)    Realize right now that disdain gets you nowhere in this industry.  If you believe that all reality shows are utter trash, you will win no points with the producers and executives who have sacrificed the past 10 years of their lives, both professionally and personally, to create this new, exploding genre of entertainment. 

2)    Accept that if you have never worked in the reality TV industry, that by trying to sell a show, you are expecting to start at the absolute top of this field with no training or experience.  I equate this surprisingly common syndrome to being airlifted to the top of Mt. Everest.  Sure, you are at the top, but you have no idea how to survive the climate or make it back down alive.  Worse, no one respects you for being at the top if you were flown there; the kudos are reserved for people who survived the mountain climb.  Those people also are the ones who stay at the top for a while, surrounded by all the helpful Sherpas they worked with during the ascent.  And the real discoveries, fun and friends in this business come from that crazy climb anyway.  Don’t be an "Everest Boy"!  (That’s not gender-specific, by the way; women can be "Everest Boys," too.)

3)    Commit now to building and utilizing a "Reality Research Lab."  Identify at least three shows you like to watch that are similar in tone or format to the show you hope to sell.  Go rent those shows, TiVo them, catch reruns, watch them on VOD.  Just get at least a season’s worth of at least three shows.  I also recommend getting a DVR (digital video recorder), if you don’t own one yet, to keep up-to-date on current shows so you can create knowledgeable, timely pitches.  (Is that expensive?  Yes.  Will you be able to sell a show with no personal cash investment?  No.)

4)    Forget about trying to make money without spending any!  Set aside real "seed money" so you can survive and thrive in this process.  Throughout this book, we will build your development budget to give you an idea of how much you might need to invest to effectively pursue this passion.

5)    Embrace that pitching actually serves two purposes.  First, it gives you a shot at selling a show, but that is only a 50/50 possibility over which you have no final say.  The second function of pitching, over which you have far more control, is to open industry doors and keep them open for future pitches.  In other words, you pitch to sell both your show and yourself.  If either one leaves a positive lasting impression on a network or production company executive you meet, the pitch was a success. 

So even if you do not sell a show at the end of developing a solid product and taking your first round of meetings, it is my hope that you will have established many new relationships that will put you positively on track to a sale.

Do I think you’re crazy to try to do this? No.  I hope you are.  It is the only way to enjoy the bumpy ride ahead.  As I mentioned earlier, over the past 10 years, I have set up, produced and run a wide range of reality TV shows and have pitched, sold and run my own.  Now let me show you how it is done.